1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to magnetic marbles stroking games and apparatus which are used as a medium for competitive amusement in the field of board and table games. Players use fingers or hand-held stroking implements to position and separate attached magnetic marbles disposed on a playing surface within a game area in order to move marbles from certain start patterns of marbles to certain end patterns in the least number of strokes or least amount of time to be game winner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Search revealed no prior art directly related to subject invention. The game of common marbles made of glass might be mentioned as a game that does involve movement of marbles by impact caused by player's finger and thumb action. But no magnetism is involved. U.S. Pat. No. 606,744 to St. John is a marble game that uses magnetism and is played on a game board in which non-magnetic marbles of steel are placed in a recessed area in center of board and a magnetic rod is used to move the steel marbles to an array of small recessed spots near perimeter of board. Competing players try to move a certain number of marbles in least amount of time to be winner. But no magnetic marbles are used. Also, this game lacks elements of skill and strategy, and has very limited play variation.
Subject invention offer a simple method of playing a board and table type game using minimal number of playing elements, yet does provide players an interesting and challenging way to compete using high degrees of manual skill and mental strategy. The invention includes a wide variety of games that can be played using same playing elements. Game elements are relatively inexpensive; game rules are easy to follow; and games can be played by one to four players.